Fall from Grace: Batista Gets 30-Years for Corruption
Eike Batista, the former mining and oil magnate who was once Brazil's richest man, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for bribing Rio de Janeiro state's disgraced ex-governor, according to a court document published on Tuesday.Batista's conviction and sentencing by federal judge Marcelo Bretas are the latest in a wave of graft investigations that have sent scores of powerful businessmen and politicians to jail.The eccentric former billionaire's meteoric rise and fall mirrored the recent fortunes of Brazil, where the commodities boom faded as his energy, mineral and logistics empire fell apart earlier this decade.His swashbuckling attitude and confident forecasts of a prolonged golden era for Brazil evaporated just as Latin America's largest economy suffered its worst recessi
Huge Port Envisioned by Tycoon Opens in Brazil - without Him
The launch this week of Prumo Logistica's $3.7 billion Port of Açu, the largest in Latin America, marked the revival of a Brazilian logistics hub many thought doomed when the empire of its former billionaire owner collapsed. Açu's more than 25 km (15.5 miles) of docks, piers and breakwaters is a much-needed step towards narrowing a crippling infrastructure gap in Latin America's largest economy. The Manhattan-sized industrial complex northeast of Rio de Janeiro, which officially opened on Tuesday, however, remains a far cry from the plans drafted by Eike Batista before his $60 billion EBX industrial empire disappeared almost overnight in 2013.
Prumo Sells 20% of Brazil Acu Oil Terminal to Oiltanking
Prumo Logistica SA , the Brazilian port operator controlled by U.S.-based EIG Global Energy Partners, agreed to sell 20 percent of its oil terminal at Brazil's Port of Açu to Germany's Oiltanking for $200 million, Prumo said on Thursday. Under the agreement Oiltanking will also manage the Port of Açu Oil Terminal, which has the capacity to transfer 1.2 million barrels a day of petroleum and can handle the largest oil tankers, known as very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, Prumo said in a statement. Oiltanking is a subsidiary of Marquard & Bahls, a family-owned company based in Hamburg. Prumo Logistica, formally known as LLX Logistica SA, was sold to EIG in 2013 as Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's EBX oil, transportation, mining and energy group unraveled.
OSX Brasil CFO Steps Down, CEO to Take Role
OSX Brasil SA Chief Financial Officer Claudio Antônio da Silva Zuicker is stepping down, and Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Kundert Ranevsky will add the role of CFO, the troubled Brazilian shipbuilder said in a statement on Tuesday. OSX is the shipbuilding arm of the EBX conglomerate started by fallen tycoon Eike Batista, who was once Brazil's richest man but lost almost everything as his companies failed under mounting debt and missed targets. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by David Gregorio)
OSX Presents Revamped Bankruptcy Plan, Calls Assembly
OSX Brasil SA, a shipbuilding and ship leasing firm controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, presented a revamped bankruptcy protection plan to a judge in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. In May, OSX had presented a plan to pay $2.6 billion in debt over 25 years. The company also said it would hold an assembly for its creditors on Dec. 10, according to a securities filing.
Brazil's OSX Posts Third-quarter Loss of $62m
OSX Brasil SA, the bankrupt shipbuilder controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, posted a net loss of 160.8 million reais ($61.8 million) in the third quarter, the company said in a securities filing on Friday. OSX reported a net loss of 1.77 billion reais in the same period last year. ($1 = 2.6 reais) (Editing by Diane Craft)
Fallen Brazilian Tycoon Batista Faces the Law
A year after the epic collapse of his industrial empire, Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's financial and legal troubles appear far from over. Once worth more than $30 billion and listed as the world's eighth-richest man by Forbes Magazine, Batista says his debts now exceed his assets by $1 billion and the value of his remaining stakes in the oil, shipbuilding, mining and transportation companies he founded continues to shrink. Batista also faces criminal and regulatory investigations into suspected insider trading and fraud. On Monday, a judge ordered Batista, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, to testify on Nov. 18, the first step in a legal saga that experts say could drag on for months, if not years.
Brazil's Óleo e Gas, OSX Renegotiate FPSO Contract
Óleo e Gas Participações SA, the Brazilian oil producer that is under bankruptcy protection, and former sister company OSX Brasil SA completed on Friday a plan to renegotiate contractual terms related to the rental of a ship. In a securities filing, Óleo e Gas said OSX Brasil, a shipbuilder controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, agreed to reduce the daily rental fee for the OSX 3 floating production, storage and offloading vessel to $250,000 from $265,000. Bonds that were sold by OSX to fund the construction of OSX 3 could be purchased by OGX Petróleo e Gas SA - which filed for bankruptcy in November - under certain, undisclosed circumstances, the filing added. (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal)
Batista Transfers Prumo Stake to Mubadala
Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista agreed on Tuesday to transfer a 10.44% stake he has in port and logistics company Prumo Logística SA to sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development Co PJSC. The transaction is expected to be completed during the third quarter, Prumo said in a securities filing after receiving a notification from Batista's office. Batista, who founded the company and originally named it LLX Logística SA, is divesting some of his holdings in an effort to renegotiate about $2 billion in debt with Mubadala. The filing did not give further details on the transaction. (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
OSX Brasil Suspends Creditor Payments
A Netherlands-based subsidiary of Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's bankrupt shipbuilding and shipleasing unit OSX Brasil SA suspended payments to creditors after being granted protection by a Dutch court. According to a securities filing on Thursday, OSX sought protection for its OSX WHP 1&2 Leasing BV unit after an unnamed "alleged creditor" asked a court to order payment in a way that threatened OSX's obligations to other creditors. OSX WHP was created to finance the building of two fixed, offshore oil-production platforms for bankrupt sister oil company Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA.
MMX Board Approves Lease, Possible Sale of Corumba Iron Ore Mine
Brazil's MMX said late Wednesday it approved the lease and possible sale of its Corumba, high-grade iron ore unit, part of efforts to raise cash and restructure the troubled mining company controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista. The Rio de Janeiro-based company, formally known as MMX Mineracao e Metalicos SA, did not name the person or company that has agreed to lease the mining rights of its MMX Corumba unit in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state near the Bolivian border. The plan was approved by the MMX board, the company said in a securities filing. MMX shares rose 0.55 percent in late-morning trading in Sao Paulo Thursday, putting the stock on track for its biggest one-day gain in nearly two weeks.
Creditors Approve Restructuring Of Batista's Oleo E Gas - Update
Creditors of Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA approved a restructuring plan for the oil company that could lead to a quick resolution of the largest bankruptcy in Latin America's history, lawyers said on Tuesday. The plan was approved by creditors holding 90 percent of the Rio de Janeiro-based company's nearly 12 billion reais ($5 billion) of unpaid obligations. If a judge approves, creditors will swap debts for about 90 percent of Oleo e Gas stock, said Ricardo Knoepfelmacher of Angra Partners, the consultancy that handled talks with creditors. The judge's approval is expected within days, he said. Creditors include Newport Beach…
Batista Shipbuilder Proposes 25-Year Payback Plan
OSX Brasil SA, the troubled shipbuilder controlled by former Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, proposed a 25-year plan to pay back creditors to a Rio de Janeiro bankruptcy court, the company said on Friday in a statement. The proposal includes an initial three-year relief period before OSX would have to start making the payments. The shipbuilder also said it could seek to secure additional financing and make changes to its shareholding structure. OSX filed for bankruptcy protection in November, as part of the unraveling of the once high-flying empire of energy, logistics and commodities that Batista assembled during an economic boom in Brazil that fizzled in 2011. At the time of its bankruptcy filing, OSX sought to restructure a debt burden of 5.34 billion reais ($2.42 billion).
Brazil's Oleo E Gas Gets $44 Mln Offer For Colombian Oil Rights
Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA, the bankrupt oil company controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, received a $44 million offer for five oil exploration and production blocks in Colombia, the company said on Friday. The offer involves $30 million in cash and the assumption of $14 million in future exploration obligations in Colombia, Oleo e Gas said in a statement. It did not give the name of the investor or company making the offer. Oleo e Gas was formerly known as OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA. If approved by a bankruptcy judge, creditors and Oleo e Gas shareholders, the sale will help the Rio de Janeiro-based company pay for leases on offshore oil production ships and its share of investments in output in Brazil, the company said.
Reports: Brazilian Tycoon Batista Investigated For Financial Crimes
Brazils federal police have opened an investigation into former billionaire Eike Batista for financial crimes, including insider trading, manipulation of markets and money laundering, Brazilian media reported on Friday. If the police probe leads to criminal charges against Batista, it would be yet another major blow for a businessman once hailed as Brazil's model entrepreneur and symbol of its economic success. Batistas EBX oil, mining and logistics empire, which two years ago was valued at $60 billion, collapsed last year in a mountain of debt and massive filings for bankruptcy protection. A week ago, Brazil's securities commission…
OGX lands $73 Mln loan
Bankrupt Brazilian oil company Óleo and Gás Participações SA, formerly known as OGX, has obtained a $73.2 million loan to finance exports and related costs, the company said on Tuesday in a securities filing. The company, the flagship of Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's EBX energy, mining, shipbuilding and port-operation group before its collapse, said the export prepayment agreement will have a discount rate of 18 percent. The filing did not say whether other OGX creditors had approved the loan agreement. The company said the loan will be contracted by its subsidiary OGX Petróleo e Gás S.A. OGX, which is still controlled by Batista, made Latin America's largest-ever bankruptcy protection filing on Oct.
Brazil's Batista Target of Insider Trading Probes
Eike Batista, who was Brazil's richest man for most of the past decade, is under investigation for allegedly engaging in insider trading while he chaired his now-bankrupt oil-producing and shipbuilding firms, securities industry watchdog CVM said on Friday. In a statement sent to Reuters, Rio de Janeiro-based CVM confirmed that Batista is a respondent in six of nine probes that executives of his Grupo EBX conglomerate are facing for breaching securities rules. In two of them, regulators are examining whether Batista allegedly took advantage of his access to privileged information.
Batista companies extend test in Brazil offshore field
Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's bankrupt shipmaker and sister oil company are extending tests in the offshore Tubarão Azul field until March 7, according to a Wednesday securities filing. OSX Brasil SA said its OSX-1 platform would continue tests in the field operated by Oleo e Gas Participações SA, the oil producer formerly known as OGX. The failure to produce as much oil as expected at Tubarão Azul, Batista's first offshore field, led to the meltdown of his energy and mining group, resulting in Latin America's largest-ever bankruptcy protection filing.
Shipbuilder OSX Brasil Restructuring Plan Suspended by Court
Reuters – A Brazilian court has suspended the deadline for shipbuilder OSX Brasil SA to present its restructuring plan under bankruptcy legislation until a new judge is appointed to the case, the company said in a statement. The 60-day deadline to file the plan was already suspended in January while another court reviewed a challenge to OSX's Nov. 11, 2013, bankruptcy protection filing. The new deadline will be set once the case is formally transferred to a new judge. Spanish construction company Acciona asked a court to prevent OSX's bankruptcy from being handled by the same judge responsible for the bankruptcy of sister oil company Oleo e Gas Participações SA. Oleo e Gas, formerly known as OGX, filed Latin America's largest ever bankruptcy on Oct. 30.
Shipbuilding Firm OSX to File for Bankruptcy
The empire of the Brazilian businessman Eike Batista has taken another hit, as his shipbuilding firm OSX states it would file for bankruptcy, reports the 'New York Times' via Agence France-Presse. According to the newspaper, OSX’s board of directors released a statement that it had decided to apply for court-supervised restructuring, also that Ivo Dworschak Filho would replace Marcelo Gomes as chief executive, and that the firm was hiring the consultancy Angra Partners to advise it on its restructuring. The move comes as Mr.
Açu Superport: A Modern Port Concept for Brazil
After spending a day exploring the sprawling Açu Superport and Industrial Complex construction site far up the northeast coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro courtesy of LLX and OSX, Claudio Paschoa, Maritime Reporter’s Contributing Editor in Brazil, flew back to Rio for a conversation with Marcus Berto, LLX’s new CEO at the EBX Group headquarters in downtown Rio de Janeiro. “This is a not simply a port belonging to LLX. This is a port for Brazil,” he said. LLX is the logistics branch of the EBX Group, the company founded in March 2007 by Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista, born eying the strong demand for modern, efficient ports in Brazil.
OSX: Full Speed Ahead on Mammoth Shipyard Project
Danilo Souza Baptista, OSX’s Director of Naval Construction, sat with MR Contributing Editor Claudio Paschoa at EBX Group’s new HQ in downtown Rio de Janeiro, in a meeting room overlooking Guanabara Bay with Sugar Loaf Mountain as a backdrop, to discuss its ambitious yet realistic vision to create one of the largest, most efficient shipyards in the Americas, as well as its Integrated Service Solution to the meet offshore O&G needs. OSX is a relatively new company, founded by the EBX Group in 2009. The EBX Group, is a holding composed of several companies active in different industries such as mining, oil & gas, logistics, real estate, among others.
Petrobas Contract OSX for Tankship Conversions
Petrobras signs a $900 million contract with OSX Brasil SA to convert two oil tankers into FPSO's. According to Reuters, OSX, controlled by Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, has agreed to deliver the first platform in 49 months, just over four years, and the second platform in five years. Under the agreement with Rio de Janeiro-based OSX, Petrobras has an option to convert a third tanker into a platform, known as a floating production storage and offloading ship, or FPSO. Source: Reuters